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The Southwest Rugby Conference has been in the works for months. It's a
conceptual DI conference being formed to include several of the Football
Bowl Subdivision schools in Texas who are moving up to DI per USA Rugby's
College Restructuring Plan, and it's somewhat mimicking the old NCAA
Southwest Conference, which disbanded in 1996, with its members fleeing to
the Big 12, SEC, WAC and Conference USA.

The SWRC finalized its initial membership Thursday (RUGBYMag.com is
expecting a release from the conference in the coming days). Not included
in the initial membership is Texas A&M, who sought to enter their
developmental side in the SWRC. Another notable program not included is
Texas Tech, who competed in the Texas Rugby Union's DI conference this
season and was a member of the SWC.

Texas A&M applied to enter the SWRC, but was denied. Texas Tech coach
Ronaldo Arroyo said that when he approached a SWRC organizer about the
conference, he was told the league had its members and were moving forward
with those members.

The omission of Tech and A&M could be the first tangible example of
what many people feared when the Restructuring Plan came down from USA,
that autonomous conferences could pick and choose who they wanted in their
competition and leave schools, like Tech, without a league to play in.

Below is the unedited reaction A&M assistant coach Johnny Smith posted
on the team's website and circulated to the media after the Aggies were
denied admission. Stay tuned to RUGBYMag.com as this and other
college restructuring stories develop.

Texas A&M’s application to become a member of
the newly formed Division I Southwest Collegiate Rugby Conference has been
denied. The conference was formed based on the USA Rugby directive that
teams must now align into conferences. The conference includes founding
members Baylor, Rice, Sam Houston, Texas State, TCU, University of Houston,
and UNT. The University of Texas also filed an application recently and was
accepted into the competition. No reason was given for the denial of the
Texas A&M application.

“It is a bit disappointing as Texas
A&M was a member of the original NCAA Southwest Conference and we feel
we could have brought something positive to the Southwest Collegiate Rugby
Conference” stated A&M coach Craig Coates. The rationale put forward by
the SWCRC for formation of the conference was the following:

1) It gives the winner an automatic
bid into the national championship bracket; - No impact as the Texas
A&M 2nd side cannot advance due to the involvement of the
Texas A&M 1st side in the CPD competition.

2) It creates competition in close
proximity that the clubs can manage; - Texas A&M is within ~2hrs drive
of 6 of the conference members.

3) It brings together a variety of
levels that will hopefully build all up, without too drastic a difference
in levels to extinguish those that are currently building; - The Texas
A&M 2nd side played 4 of the SWCRC participants in the Fall
and while competitive, lost every match.

4) Establishes a core group of
name-recognizable institutions to market for sponsorship & recruitment
on the collective college campuses. – Texas A&M fits this
criteria.

The positives that Texas A&M
felt they brought to the conference are:

A. Increased exposure for the
conference by including a big name school and well respected rugby
program.

D. While Texas A&M remains
fully committed to the CPD; if the competition folds, or if future student
officers decide they don't want to be part of it anymore, Texas A&M
will need a competitive DI conference to play in and wanted be part of the
SWCRC to contribute resources, expertise, and support. The current
situation leaves Texas A&M isolated and without a competitive
conference structure to participate in; which will also apply to proposed
future 7’s competitions.

“I can only assume the Southwest
Conference didn’t see it the same way” stated Coates. “Before the league
formed we were told that our school was too large (undergraduate
population) to compete against the smaller schools like Rice and Baylor.
However, UH has an undergrad population of 29,000+, Texas State 27,000+,
UNT 27,000+ and the University of Texas 38,000+. Texas A&M has an
undergrad enrollment of 36,000+. Apparently school size was not the issue
either.”

USA Rugby has made it clear that
conferences are independent and can decide who is in and who is out,
however arbitrary their reasoning may be. “It is their conference and they
have the right to choose who they want to be part of it” said Asst. Coach
Johnny Smith. “We tried putting together a Big XII Rugby Conference (that
failed to materialize) and that would have potentially left out non-Big 12
schools.” Texas A&M is now looking to enter their 2nd side
into the TRU Division II competition. “Our 1st XV will continue
on in the CPD and our 2nd XV will hopefully find a home in the
TRU DII competition.“